The confession
by silent romantic
Summary: If Yuan wasn't so afraid then maybe he could finally tell her...


**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot bunny.**

**Author's note: Yes, I should be finishing my other stories, but I wanted to write something for all the other Yuan and Martel fans. So here we go! Oh, and as always, italics are thoughts.**

Yuan Ka-Fai was walking a little slower than everyone else on their journey to Meltokio today. He had a lot on his mind, and was trying to think of a good way to say something this important.

Martel Yggdrasill noticed that Yuan wasn't following his normal patterns. Martel, of course, had noticed mainly because he normally walked with her when Mithos didn't. Today, though, no one was walking with her near the front.

Mithos Yggdrasill, Martel's little brother, noticed something was up between his dear sister and Yuan. That would simply not do, but he didn't know for sure. He went to ask his mentor, Kratos.

Kratos Aurion knew exactly what Yuan, his best friend, was thinking about, and was struggling to not laugh and keep the truth from Mithos. He did this, because if he told Mithos, Mithos would probably try to kill Yuan. Kratos put his hand to his head, so he could cover the small smile creeping to his face.

Yuan was in charge of cooking that night, and it was Kratos' fault. Kratos had volunteered him, so now he was going to get payback with dinner. Yuan decided to cook spaghetti. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, except he was deliberately cutting the tomatoes so that it would leave bits of tomato in the sauce. Kratos hates tomatoes, so this was a good way to get back at him for making him wait to talk to Martel.

"Yuan? Do you need help with dinner?" Martel inquired, "Kratos told me you might want some help… I don't know why, you are completely capable of making dinner alone."

Yuan stared for a second. Kratos had sent her over here. Away from where he was training Mithos with a sword. He planned it. _THAT BASTARD! _Yuan thought. What he really said was, "Actually, Martel, I could use some help. I'm making spaghetti, and I just can't seem to get these tomatoes to chop correctly. Will you handle that?"

"Sure!" Martel responded with a smile.

The two of them worked on dinner quietly. Martel was just about to call for the others when Yuan grabbed her hand.

"Martel, hold on. There is something important that I need to tell you." Yuan said quietly, but with such force that Martel immediately turned to face him and got very quiet. Yuan looked into her beautiful eyes and took a deep breath before saying in almost a murmur, "Martel, I love you. I have for a very long time. I was just too much of a coward to tell you."

He got very concerned when she looked away and didn't say anything for a moment. Being a guy, he took her silence as rejection, and let her hand go and turned away. He was about to apologize for confessing, but Martel turned back toward him and grabbed both of his hands, keeping him from walking away. Now it was Yuan's turn to turn back around to face her.

Her petite face was graced with a blush, and her eyes were shining in delight. She took a step forward, and wrapped her arms around him in a hug to close off the distance. Yuan, being the taller of the two, looked down to see her face. At this point he was still too stunned that she was hugging him to hug back, so he just stared, memorizing her face when it was turned just so to the side, and how her long hair framed her face perfectly and some strands had fallen over her shoulder. How she had a little bit of flour on her face from preparing dinner. He used his thumb to wipe it off, and then let his hand snake around her back so he could return the hug. His left hand rested on her back, while his right played with the hair near her shoulders. Then he heard her quiet reply.

"I love you too, Yuan. I…. was a coward too. I've loved you since I met you."

Yuan drew away from the hug so he could lift her face and look into her eyes, and said, "My love." And he kissed the top of her head.

Martel then wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in to kiss his lips.

Meanwhile, not too far away, Kratos and Mithos were returning to camp after a long bout of sword training, looking for dinner. Mithos decided that he wanted to go to the stream to wash up before eating, so Kratos continued into the camp alone, and found Martel and Yuan just pulling away from each other. Neither saw Kratos as he quickly retreated from them, going to distract Mithos until they called them for dinner.

After a few moments, Yuan remembered that they were supposed to be telling the others to come eat, and the two of them quickly gathered bowls, and called for Kratos and Mithos to get back to camp.

When the other two finally returned to camp, Yuan and Martel were standing a little ways away, holding hands and looking at the stars.

**Wow, that was really fluffy. Fluffier than I thought I could write! ^^ anyway, please review! They are what feed the plot bunnies!**


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